Generally speaking, electrical connection manufacturers have to comply with the constraints imposed by the apparatuses on which the connections they manufacture are to be located, and with the methods of cabling intended for use with such apparatuses.
Where appropriate, it is thus advantageous to have types of connection which are suitable for being adapted to specific requirements without having to be redesigned from scratch. In particular, it is advantageous to have as wide a degree of freedom as possible in selecting the orientation of the insertion axis of the conductor to be connected relative to the operating axis of the connection.
Thus, connections exist for axial connection in which the insertion axis of the wire is at a chosen acute angle relative to the axis of a clamping screw which conventionally displaces a wedging shoe mounted on the screw in such a manner as to move obliquely relative to a conductor strip in a cage; with the wire being inserted between the shoe and the strip prior to being clamped by the screw. An example of such a connection is described in the Applicants' published French patent specification number 2 520 561.
These axial connections facilitate connection so long as the acute angle remains small and the sizes of the component parts remain sufficiently large, however, they suffer from drawbacks when used as miniature connections or when the acute angle is relatively large.
Screw connections also exist in which the wire insertion axis is perpendicular to the axis of a clamping screw which grips the wire between a wire-gripping surface provided on a conductor strip and a corresponding internal wire-gripping surface which is at least approximately parallel thereto on a cage. The cage surrounds the strip and is suitable for gripping the wire under the action of the clamping screw which is screwed through the cage and which bears against the strip from the other side thereof relative to the wire and the wire-gripping surfaces.
Unless modified, this type of connection does not allow for the wire to be inserted at an angle, whereas its simplicity makes it well adapted to miniaturization, and it has the advantage of allowing a wire to be inserted along either one of two opposite directions, unlike the other system described above.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention thus propose a connection derived from the above-described connection after modification to allow connection directions and consequently wire insertion directions relative to the clamping screw axis to be obtained on request over a range of acute and obtuse angles which are at least somewhat oblique, i.e. which are preferably greater than thirty degrees and less than one hundred and fifty degrees.